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119-740: The term was originally used to indicate the eight days of celebration for the dedication of the Church of the Holy Sepulchre in Jerusalem , which celebration covered also to the discovering of the True Cross by Empress Helena in 326. Because the Church of the Holy Sepulchre was consecrated on September 13, 335, the Encaenia started on September 13, while the cross itself was brought outside

238-416: A 'catholic' Church geared to mass conversions and institutionally endowed with extensive powers of sacramental grace and redemption". This "momentous transformation" threatened the survival of the marginal religious movement as it naturally led to divisions, schisms and defections. Bryant explains that, "once those within a sect determine that "the 'spirit' no longer resides in the parent body, 'the holy and

357-554: A Christian symbol (the Chi-Ro ), and thereafter they were victorious. How much Christianity Constantine adopted at this point is difficult to discern; most influential people in the empire, especially high military officials, were still pagan, and Constantine's rule exhibited at least a willingness to appease these factions. The accession of Constantine was a turning point for the Christian Church. In 313, Constantine issued

476-750: A formula stating that the Father and the Son were similar in accord with the scriptures, the crowning victory for Arianism. The opponents of Arianism rallied, but in the First Council of Constantinople in 381 marked the final victory of Nicene orthodoxy within the empire, though Arianism had by then spread to the Germanic tribes, among whom it gradually disappeared after the conversion of the Franks to Catholicism in 496. The First Council of Constantinople approved

595-582: A great many renowned Church Fathers who wrote volumes of theological texts, including Augustine of Hippo , Gregory Nazianzus , Cyril of Jerusalem , Ambrose of Milan , Jerome , and others. Some, such as John Chrysostom and Athanasius , suffered exile, persecution, or martyrdom from heretical Byzantine emperors. Many of their writings are translated into English in the compilations of Nicene and Post-Nicene Fathers. Influential texts and writers between 325 and c.500 include: Those who wrote in Greek are called

714-492: A guide for monastic life and his Conferences , a collection of spiritual reflections. Honoratus of Marseilles was a wealthy Gallo-Roman aristocrat, who after a pilgrimage to Egypt, founded the Monastery of Lérins , on an island lying off the modern city of Cannes . The monastery combined a community with isolated hermitages where older, spiritually-proven monks could live in isolation. One Roman reaction to monasticism

833-550: A higher fourth-century wall built to support Constantine's basilica. After the excavations of the early 1970s, the Armenian authorities converted this archaeological space into the Chapel of Saint Vartan , and created an artificial walkway over the quarry on the north of the chapel, so that the new chapel could be accessed (by permission) from the Chapel of Saint Helena. After seven decades of being held together by steel girders,

952-413: A layer of debris was visible. This was cleared in the next day, and a partially broken marble slab with a Crusader-style cross carved was revealed. By the night of 28 October, the original limestone burial bed was shown to be intact. The tomb was resealed shortly thereafter. Mortar from just above the burial bed was later dated to the mid-fourth century. On 25 March 2020, Israeli health officials ordered

1071-479: A momentous event in the history of the Church and subsequent history of Europe. The council was opposed by the Arians , and Constantine tried to reconcile Arius with the Church. Even when Arius died in 336, one year before the death of Constantine, the controversy continued, with various separate groups espousing Arian sympathies in one way or another. In 359, a double council of Eastern and Western bishops affirmed

1190-489: A more organized community in which the monks lived in individual huts or rooms ( cellula in Latin ) but worked, ate, and worshipped in shared space. Guidelines for daily life were created, and separate monasteries were created for men and women. This method of monastic organization is called cenobitic or "community-based." All the principal monastic orders are cenobitic in nature. In Catholic theology, this community-based living

1309-619: A new imperial capital at Byzantium on the Bosphorus (it came to be named for him: Constantinople )–the city employed overtly Christian architecture , contained churches within the city walls (unlike "old" Rome), and had no pagan temples. In 330 he established Constantinople as the new capital of the Roman Empire. The city would gradually come to be seen as the center of the Christian world . Sociologist Joseph Bryant asserts that, by

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1428-555: A position ahead of the other chief metropolitan sees, except that of Rome. Mentioning in particular the provinces of Asia , Pontus and Thrace , it decreed that the synod of each province should manage the ecclesiastical affairs of that province alone, except for the privileges already recognized for Alexandria and Antioch. The divisions in Christian unity which led to the East–West Schism started to become evident as early as

1547-765: A proper staircase. The Crusaders began to refurnish the church in Romanesque style and added a bell tower . These renovations unified the small chapels on the site and were completed during the reign of Queen Melisende in 1149, placing all the holy places under one roof for the first time. The church became the seat of the first Latin patriarchs and the site of the kingdom's scriptorium . Eight 11th- and 12th-century Crusader leaders ( Godfrey , Baldwin I , Baldwin II , Fulk , Baldwin III , Amalric , Baldwin IV and Baldwin V –

1666-461: A riot broke out, which was followed by reprisals. The basilica was burned again. The doors and roof were burnt, and Patriarch John VII was murdered. On 18 October 1009, Fatimid caliph al-Hakim bi-Amr Allah ordered the complete destruction of the church as part of a more general campaign against Christian places of worship in Palestine and Egypt. The damage was extensive, with few parts of

1785-628: A very rigid interpretation of Christianity that excluded many who had abandoned the faith during the Diocletian persecutions, created a crisis in the western Empire. A Church synod , or council, was called in Rome in 313 followed by another in Arles in 314. The latter was presided over by Constantine while he was still a junior emperor . The councils ruled that the Donatist faith was heresy, and when

1904-539: Is also no division between the "active" and "contemplative" life. Orthodox monastic life embraces both active and contemplative aspects. The earliest phases of monasticism in Western Europe involved figures like Martin of Tours , who after serving in the Roman legions converted to Christianity and established a hermitage near Milan , then moved on to Poitiers where he gathered a community around his hermitage. He

2023-618: Is collected in the Apophthegmata Patrum ("Sayings of the Desert Fathers"). The first efforts to create a proto-monastery were by Saint Macarius , who established individual groups of cells such as those at Kellia (founded in 328.) The intention was to bring together individual ascetics who, although pious, did not have the physical ability or skills to live a solitary existence in the desert . At Tabenna around 323, Saint Pachomius chose to mould his disciples into

2142-566: Is considered superior because of the obedience practiced and the accountability offered. The head of a monastery came to be known by the word for "Father;" – in Syriac , Abba ; in English, " Abbot ." Pachomius was called in to help organize others, and by one count by the time he died in 346 there were thought to be 3,000 such communities dotting Egypt, especially the Thebaid . Within the span of

2261-479: Is known for his eloquence in preaching and public speaking , his denunciation of abuse of authority by both ecclesiastical and political leaders, the Divine Liturgy of St. John Chrysostom , and his ascetic sensibilities. After his death (or, according to some sources, during his life) he was given the Greek surname chrysostomos , meaning "golden mouthed", rendered in English as Chrysostom. Chrysostom

2380-656: Is known within Christianity chiefly as a preacher , theologian, and liturgist, particularly in the Eastern Orthodox Church. Outside the Christian tradition Chrysostom is noted for eight of his sermons which played a considerable part in the history of Christian antisemitism and were extensively used by the Nazis in their ideological campaign against the Jews. Those fathers who wrote in Latin are called

2499-524: Is the Donatist schism that Bryant sees as the culmination of this sect to church dynamic. During the Melitian schism and the beginnings of the Donatist division, bishop Cyprian had felt compelled to "grant one laxist concession after another in the course of his desperate struggle to preserve the Catholic church". Roman emperors had always been religious leaders, but Constantine established precedent for

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2618-658: Is the ceremony at the University of Oxford , which usually takes place on the Wednesday of the ninth week of Trinity Term (i.e. a Wednesday in the latter part of June). Preceding the ceremony is a procession of some of the participants to the Sheldonian Theatre , inside which the main event takes place. Those who take part in the procession are the Chancellor , Vice-Chancellor , and Pro-Vice-Chancellors ,

2737-421: Is the evening shortly before commencement on which the college honors the graduating class with awards and prizes following a procession of candidates and faculty in academic regalia , often joined by trustees and administrators. In the case of Fordham University , the graduates in turn bid farewell in the persons of the class valedictorian and, in a humorous yet loving way, the honorary "Lord" or "Lady of

2856-636: The Aedicule by Komnenos had deteriorated badly and was detaching from the underlying structure; from 1947 until restoration work in 2016–17, it was held in place with an exterior scaffolding of iron girders installed by the British authorities . After the care of the British Empire , the Church of England had an important role in the appropriation of the Holy Sepulcher, such as funds for

2975-753: The Basilica of the Holy Sepulchre and the Holy Sepulchre . Eastern Christians also call it the Church of the Resurrection and the Church of the Anastasis , Anastasis being Greek for Resurrection. After the siege of Jerusalem in AD 70 during the First Jewish–Roman War , Jerusalem had been reduced to ruins. In AD 130, the Roman emperor Hadrian began the building of a Roman colony,

3094-665: The Council of Nicaea , which was effectively the first Ecumenical Council (the Council of Jerusalem was the first recorded Christian council but rarely is it considered ecumenical ), to deal mostly with the Arian heresy, but which also issued the Nicene Creed , which among other things professed a belief in One Holy Catholic Apostolic Church , the start of Christendom . John Kaye characterizes

3213-536: The Edict of Milan affirming the tolerance of Christians. Thereafter, he supported the Church financially, built various basilicas, granted privileges (e.g., exemption from certain taxes) to clergy, promoted Christians to high ranking offices, and returned property confiscated during the reign of Diocletian. Constantine utilized Christian symbols early in his reign but still encouraged traditional Roman religious practices including sun worship . Between 324 and 330, he built

3332-595: The First Crusade , was the threat to Constantinople from the Seljuk invasion of Asia Minor in response to the appeal of Byzantine Emperor Alexios I Komnenos . Historians agree that the fate of Jerusalem and thereby the Church of the Holy Sepulchre was also of concern, if not the immediate goal of papal policy in 1095. The idea of taking Jerusalem gained more focus as the Crusade was underway. The rebuilt church site

3451-635: The Israel Antiquities Authority (IAA) declared the visibly deteriorating Aedicule structure unsafe. A restoration of the Aedicule was agreed upon and executed from May 2016 to March 2017. Much of the $ 4 million project was funded by the World Monuments Fund , as well as $ 1.3 million from Mica Ertegün and a significant sum from King Abdullah II of Jordan . The existence of the original limestone cave walls within

3570-546: The Muristan . This narrow way of access to such a large structure has proven to be hazardous at times. For example, when a fire broke out in 1840, dozens of pilgrims were trampled to death. According to their own family lore, the Muslim Nuseibeh family has been responsible for opening the door as an impartial party to the church's denominations already since the seventh century. However, they themselves admit that

3689-589: The Peshitta and Codex Alexandrinus , these are the earliest extant Christian Bibles. In order to form a New Testament canon of uniquely Christian works , proto-orthodox Christians went through a process that was complete in the West by the beginning of the fifth century . Athanasius , bishop of Alexandria, Egypt , in his Easter letter of 367, which was approved at the Quinisext Council , listed

Encaenia - Misplaced Pages Continue

3808-899: The Registrar , together with the outgoing President of the Oxford University Student Union , and the Presidents of the Junior and Middle Common Rooms of the colleges to which the Proctors and the Assessor belong. Oxford's Encaenia is depicted in the film Shadowlands , the Morse episode " Twilight of the Gods ", and Jeffrey Archer 's novel Not a Penny More, Not a Penny Less . At some institutions, encaenia

3927-589: The Roman Catholic , Greek Orthodox , Armenian Apostolic , Coptic , Syriac , and Ethiopian Orthodox churches. Directly adjacent to the Church of the Holy Sepulchre is the Church of the Redeemer , marking a Lutheran presence at the site. The church was named either for the Resurrection of Jesus , or for his tomb, which is at its focal point. The Church of the Holy Sepulchre is also known as

4046-408: The fourth century . According to traditions dating to the fourth century, the church contains both the site where Jesus was crucified at Calvary , or Golgotha, and the location of Jesus's empty tomb , where he was buried and resurrected . Both locations are considered immensely holy sites by Christians. In earlier times, the site was used as a Jewish burial ground, upon which a pagan temple

4165-423: The 1970–78 restoration works and excavations inside the building, and under the nearby Muristan bazaar, it was found that the area was originally a quarry, from which white meleke limestone was struck. East of the Chapel of Saint Helena, the excavators discovered a void containing a second-century drawing of a Roman pilgrim ship, two low walls supporting the platform of Hadrian's second-century temple, and

4284-565: The 4th century Christianity in the 4th century was dominated in its early stage by Constantine the Great and the First Council of Nicaea of 325, which was the beginning of the period of the First seven Ecumenical Councils (325–787), and in its late stage by the Edict of Thessalonica of 380, which made Nicene Christianity the state church of the Roman Empire . With Christianity

4403-551: The 4th century. Although 1054 is the date usually given for the beginning of the Great Schism, there is, in fact, no specific date on which the schism occurred. The events leading to schism were not exclusively theological in nature. Cultural, political, and linguistic differences were often mixed with the theological. Unlike the Coptics or Armenians who broke from the Church in the 5th century and established ethnic churches at

4522-549: The Aedicule was confirmed, and a window was created to view this from the inside. The presence of moisture led to the discovery of an underground shaft resembling an escape tunnel carved into the bedrock, seeming to lead from the tomb. For the first time since at least 1555, on 26 October 2016, marble cladding that protects the supposed burial bed of Jesus was removed. Members of the National Technical University of Athens were present. Initially, only

4641-402: The Anastasis ('Resurrection'). The Status Quo , an understanding between religious communities dating to 1757, applies to the site. Control of the church itself is shared among several Christian denominations and secular entities in complicated arrangements essentially unchanged for over 160 years, and some for much longer. The main denominations sharing property over parts of the church are

4760-555: The Athanasian faction (though he was baptized on his death bed by the Arian bishop Eusebius of Nicomedia ). His successor Constantius II supported a Semi-Arian position. Emperor Julian favored a return the traditional Roman/Greek religion, but this trend was quickly quashed by his successor Jovian , a supporter of the Athanasian faction. In 380 Emperor Theodosius issued the Edict of Thessalonica , which established Christianity as

4879-537: The Byzantines, while releasing 5,000 Muslim prisoners, made demands for the restoration of other churches destroyed by al-Hakim and the reestablishment of a patriarch in Jerusalem. Contemporary sources credit the emperor with spending vast sums in an effort to restore the Church of the Holy Sepulchre after this agreement was made. Still, "a total replacement was far beyond available resources. The new construction

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4998-467: The Christian church they had seen as a threat to empire, and Constantine and his successors did the same, for the same reasons. Constantine's precedent of deferring to councils on doctrine, and accepting responsibility for their enforcement, would continue generally until the empire's end, although there were a few emperors of the 5th and 6th centuries who sought to alter doctrine by imperial edict without recourse to councils. In 325 Constantine called for

5117-468: The Christian world as Julian the Apostate , was a philosopher who upon becoming emperor renounced Christianity and embraced a Neo-platonic and mystical form of paganism shocking the Christian establishment. While not actually outlawing Christianity, he became intent on re-establishing the prestige of the old pagan beliefs and practices. He modified these practices to resemble Christian traditions such as

5236-429: The Church and the Church becoming ever more divided. The Council of Nicaea in 325 supported the Athanasian view. The Council of Rimini in 359 supported the Arian view. The Council of Constantinople in 360 supported a compromise that allowed for both views. The Council of Constantinople in 381 re-asserted the Athanasian view and rejected the Arian view. Emperor Constantine was of divided opinions, but he largely backed

5355-487: The Church inside the Roman Empire adopted the same organisational boundaries as the empire: geographical provinces, called dioceses , corresponding to imperial governmental territorial division. The bishops, who were located in major urban centres as per pre-legalisation tradition, thus oversaw each diocese as Metropolitan bishops . The bishop's location was his "seat", or "see." The prestige of important Christian centers depended in part on their apostolic founders , from whom

5474-504: The Crusader Kingdom of Jerusalem, reports on the rebuilding of the church in the mid-12th century. The Crusaders investigated the eastern ruins on the site, occasionally excavating through the rubble, and while attempting to reach the cistern, they discovered part of the original ground level of Hadrian's temple enclosure; they transformed this space into a chapel dedicated to Helena , widening their original excavation tunnel into

5593-406: The Donatists refused to recant, Constantine launched the first campaign of persecution by Christians against Christians. This was only the beginning of imperial involvement in the Christian theology. Christian scholars within the empire were increasingly embroiled in debates regarding Christology . Opinions were widespread ranging from the belief that Jesus was entirely mortal to the belief that he

5712-422: The East. Christianity came to dominance during the reign of Julian's successors, Jovian , Valentinian I , and Valens (the last Eastern Arian Christian emperor). Over the course of the 4th century the Christian body became consumed by debates surrounding orthodoxy , i.e. which religious doctrines are the correct ones. By the early 4th century a group in North Africa , later called Donatists , who believed in

5831-471: The Father or merely of similar substance. Alexander of Alexandria and Athanasius took the first position; the popular presbyter Arius , from whom the term Arian controversy comes, took the second. The council decided against the Arians overwhelmingly (of the estimated 250–318 attendees, all but 2 voted against Arius). Another result of the council was an agreement on the date of the Christian Passover ( Pascha in Greek; Easter in modern English),

5950-487: The Great . Christian sources record that Constantine experienced a dramatic event in 312 at the Battle of Milvian Bridge , after which Constantine claimed the emperorship in the West. According to these sources, Constantine looked up to the sun before the battle and saw a cross of light above it, and with it the Greek words " ΕΝ ΤΟΥΤΩ ΝΙΚΑ " ("by this, conquer!", often rendered in the Latin " in hoc signo vinces "); Constantine commanded his troops to adorn their shields with

6069-400: The Greek (Church) Fathers. Athanasius of Alexandria was a theologian, Pope of Alexandria , and a noted Egyptian leader of the 4th century. He is best remembered for his role in the conflict with Arianism. At the First Council of Nicaea, Athanasius argued against the Arian doctrine that Christ is of a distinct substance from the Father. John Chrysostom , archbishop of Constantinople,

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6188-424: The Heads of Houses (i.e. the university's colleges , societies, and halls ), the four Heads of Division (i.e. the divisions of Humanities; Mathematical, Physical and Life Sciences; Medical Sciences; and Social Sciences), holders of Higher Doctorates (i.e. those in Divinity , Civil Law , Medicine , Letters , Science , and Music ), the Proctors , the Assessor, the Public Orator , the Professor of Poetry , and

6307-476: The Latin (Church) Fathers. Ambrose of Milan was a bishop of Milan who became one of the most influential ecclesiastical figures of the 4th century. He is counted as one of the four original doctors of the Church . The Desert Fathers were early monastics living in the Egyptian desert; although they did not write as much, their influence was also great. Among them are St. Anthony the Great and St. Pachomius . A great number of their usually short sayings

6426-428: The Manor". Church of the Holy Sepulchre The Church of the Holy Sepulchre , also known as the Church of the Resurrection , is a fourth-century church in the Christian Quarter of the Old City of Jerusalem . The church is also the seat of the Greek Orthodox Patriarchate of Jerusalem . Some consider it the holiest site in Christianity and it has been an important pilgrimage site for Christians since

6545-472: The Old City, were made part of Jordan. In 1967, Israeli forces captured East Jerusalem in the Six Day War , and that area has remained under Israeli control ever since. Under Israeli rule, legal arrangements relating to the churches of East Jerusalem were maintained in coordination with the Jordanian government. The dome at the Church of the Holy Sepulchre was restored again in 1994–97 as part of extensive modern renovations that have been ongoing since 1959. During

6664-441: The Ottomans. The tomb itself is enclosed by a 19th-century shrine called the Aedicule . Within the church proper are the last four stations of the Cross of the Via Dolorosa , representing the final episodes of the Passion of Jesus . The church has been a major Christian pilgrimage destination since its creation in the fourth century, as the traditional site of the resurrection of Christ, thus its original Greek name, Church of

6783-401: The Roman Empire further contributed to disunion in the Church. Emperor Diocletian divided the administration of the eastern and western portions of the empire in the early 4th century, though subsequent leaders (including Constantine) aspired to and sometimes gained control of both regions. Theodosius I , who established Christianity as the official religion of the Roman Empire, died in 395 and

6902-411: The Roman world, Brown says Constantine would never have converted himself. By the end of the second century Christianity was steadily expanding and its membership was socially rising. The church was becoming increasingly institutionalized, and there is evidence of moral erosion and declining commitment amongst its expanding membership. Bryant explains that, "The governing principle of the [sect is] in

7021-412: The architect Zenobius, was built as separate constructs over two holy sites: The Church of the Holy Sepulchre site has been recognized since early in the fourth century as the place where Jesus was crucified, buried, and rose from the dead. The church was consecrated on 13 September 335. In 327, Constantine and Helena separately commissioned the Church of the Nativity in Bethlehem to commemorate

7140-517: The baptismal creed of Constantinople. Later, the Catholic Church in the west, added two additional Latin phrases ("Deum de Deo" and "Filioque"). The exact time, and origin, of these additions is disputed. However, they were formally accepted only in 1014. The council also condemned Apollinarism , the teaching that there was no human mind or soul in Christ. It also granted Constantinople honorary precedence over all churches save Rome. The council did not include Western bishops or Roman legates, but it

7259-431: The baptistery, and the north chapel the chamber in which the patriarch chrismated the newly baptized before leading them into the rotunda north of this complex. Now they are dedicated as (from south to north) The 12th-century Crusader bell tower is just south of the Rotunda, to the left of the entrance. Its upper level was lost in a 1545 collapse. In 1719, another two storeys were lost. The wooden doors that compose

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7378-502: The birth of Jesus. The Constantinian sanctuary in Jerusalem was destroyed by a fire in May of 614 , when the Sassanid Empire , under Khosrau II , invaded Jerusalem and captured the True Cross. In 630, the Emperor Heraclius rebuilt the church after recapturing the city. After Jerusalem came under Islamic rule , it remained a Christian church, with the early Muslim rulers protecting the city's Christian sites, prohibiting their destruction or use as living quarters. A story reports that

7497-412: The bishops were therefore the spiritual successors according to the doctrine of Apostolic succession . Constantine erected a new capital at Byzantium , a strategically placed city on the Bosporus . He renamed his new capital Nova Roma ("New Rome"), but the city would become known as Constantinople . The Second Ecumenical Council , held at the new capital in 381, elevated the see of Constantinople to

7616-472: The caliph Umar ibn al-Khattab visited the church and stopped to pray on the balcony, but at the time of prayer, turned away from the church and prayed outside. He feared that future generations would misinterpret this gesture, taking it as a pretext to turn the church into a mosque. Eutychius of Alexandria adds that Umar wrote a decree saying that Muslims would not inhabit this location. The building suffered severe damage from an earthquake in 746. Early in

7735-423: The church on September 14 so that the clergy and faithful could pray before the True Cross ( Feast of the Cross ). At certain universities, Encaenia is an annual ceremony typically involving the presentation of honorary degrees to distinguished alumni and to distinguished personages from the worlds of arts and sciences. In most British universities, it corresponds to part of Graduation . The most famous Encaenia

7854-465: The church. By the Crusader period, a cistern under the former basilica was rumoured to have been where Helena had found the True Cross, and began to be venerated as such; the cistern later became the Chapel of the Invention of the Cross , but there is no evidence of the site's identification before the 11th century, and modern archaeological investigation has now dated the cistern to 11th-century repairs by Monomachos. William of Tyre , chronicler of

7973-465: The conversion of Constantine, and the council of Nicea, as two of the most important things to ever happen to the Christian church. Constantine's sons banned pagan State religious sacrifices in 341 but did not close the temples. Although all State temples in all cities were ordered shut in 356, there is evidence that traditional sacrifices continued. When Gratian declined the position and title of Pontifex Maximus , his act effectively brought an end to

8092-427: The cost of their universality and catholicity, the eastern and western parts of the Church remained loyal to the faith and authority of the seven ecumenical councils. They were united, by virtue of their common faith and tradition, in one Church. The Orthodox Patriarch of Jerusalem and the ecclesiastics of the Orthodox church are based in the ancient Church of the Holy Sepulchre constructed in 335 AD. Disunion in

8211-428: The current form of the Nicene Creed as it is still used in the Eastern Orthodox Church and Oriental Orthodox churches. The creed, originally written in Greek, was subsequently translated in other languages. The form used by the Armenian Apostolic Church , which is part of Oriental Orthodoxy, has several additions to the original text. This fuller creed may have existed before the council and probably originated from

8330-434: The decoration was once inlaid with pieces of glass and fine marble; it indicates that the relic was the front of the church's high altar from the Crusader era (c. 1149), which was later used by the Greek Orthodox until being damaged in the 1808 fire. The courtyard facing the entrance to the church is known as the parvis . Two streets open into the parvis: St Helena Road (west) and Suq ed-Dabbagha (east). Around

8449-435: The documents held by various Christian denominations only mention their role since the 12th century, in the time of Saladin, which is the date more generally accepted. After retaking Jerusalem from the Crusaders in 1187 , Saladin entrusted the Joudeh family with the key to the church, which is made of iron and 30 centimetres (12 in) long; the Nuseibehs either became or remained its doorkeepers. Christianity in

8568-547: The dome of the rotunda to collapse and smashing the Aedicule's exterior decoration. The rotunda and the Aedicule's exterior were rebuilt in 1809–10 by architect Nikolaos Ch. Komnenos of Mytilene in the contemporary Ottoman Baroque style. The interior of the antechamber, now known as the Chapel of the Angel , was partly rebuilt to a square ground plan in place of the previously semicircular western end. Another decree in 1853 from

8687-414: The dominant faith in some urban centers, Christians accounted for approximately 10% of the Roman population by 300, according to some estimates. Roman Emperor Diocletian launched the bloodiest campaign against Christians that the empire had witnessed. The persecution ended in 311 with the death of Diocletian. The persecution ultimately had not turned the tide on the growth of the religion, and because of

8806-613: The early church remaining, and the roof of the rock-cut tomb damaged; the original shrine was destroyed. Some partial repairs followed. Christian Europe reacted with shock: it was a spur to expulsions of Jews and, later on, the Crusades . In wide-ranging negotiations between the Fatimids and the Byzantine Empire in 1027–1028, an agreement was reached whereby the new Caliph Ali az-Zahir (al-Hakim's son) agreed to allow

8925-497: The episcopal structure and public charity (hitherto unknown in Roman paganism). Julian eliminated most of the privileges and prestige previously afforded to the Christian Church. His reforms attempted to create a form of religious heterogeneity by, among other things, reopening pagan temples, accepting Christian bishops previously exiled as heretics, promoting Judaism , and returning Church lands to their original owners. However, Julian's short reign ended when he died while campaigning in

9044-539: The first capital punishment of a heretic was carried out on Priscillian of Ávila . The First Council of Nicaea (325) and the First Council of Constantinople (381) were a part of what would later be called the first seven Ecumenical Councils, which span 400 years of church history. The First Council of Nicaea , held in Nicaea in Bithynia (in present-day Turkey), convoked by Roman Emperor Constantine I in 325,

9163-605: The first eight rulers of the Kingdom of Jerusalem ) were buried in the south transept and inside the Chapel of Adam . The royal tombs were looted during the Khwarizmian sack of Jerusalem in 1244 but probably remained mostly intact until 1808 when a fire damaged the church. The tombs may have been destroyed by the fire, or during renovations by the Greek Orthodox custodians of the church in 1809–1810. The remains of

9282-532: The holiest church in Christianity was laid under interdict . The church seems to have been largely in the hands of Greek Orthodox patriarch Athanasius II of Jerusalem (c. 1231–47) during the last period of Latin control over Jerusalem. Both city and church were captured by the Khwarezmians in 1244. There was certainly a recognisable Nestorian ( Church of the East ) presence at the Holy Sepulchre from

9401-402: The isolated life of hermits, which he considered the highest form of monasticism, yet the monasteries he founded were all organized monastic communities. About 410 he established two monasteries near Marseilles , one for men, one for women. In time these attracted a total of 5,000 monks and nuns. Most significant for the future development of monasticism were Cassian's Institutes , which provided

9520-477: The kings may still be in unmarked pits under the church's pavement. The church was lost to Saladin , along with the rest of the city, in 1187, although the treaty established after the Third Crusade allowed Christian pilgrims to visit the site. Emperor Frederick II (r. 1220–50) regained the city and the church by treaty in the 13th century while under a ban of excommunication, with the consequence that

9639-408: The main entrance are the original, highly carved arched doors. Today, only the left-hand entrance is currently accessible, as the right doorway has long since been bricked up. The entrance to the church leads to the south transept , through the crusader façade in the parvis of a larger courtyard. This is found past a group of streets winding through the outer Via Dolorosa by way of a souq in

9758-587: The maintenance of external infrastructures, and the abolition of territorial claims near the Temple of the Holy Sepulcher, the Protestant Church allowed to carry out the elimination of taxes from the Holy Sepulcher, currently the Anglican and Lutheran dioceses of Jerusalem are allowed to attend Armenian cults. In 1948, Jerusalem was divided between Israel and Jordan and where the church was located, in

9877-569: The most important feast of the ecclesiastical calendar. The council decided in favour of celebrating the resurrection on the first Sunday after the first full moon following the vernal equinox , independently of the Bible 's Hebrew calendar , and authorized the Bishop of Alexandria (presumably using the Alexandrian calendar ) to announce annually the exact date to his fellow bishops. The council

9996-423: The new city of Aelia Capitolina , on the site. About AD 135, he ordered that a cave containing a rock-cut tomb be filled in to make a flat foundation for a temple dedicated to Jupiter or Venus . The temple remained until the early fourth century. After seeing a vision of a cross in the sky in 312, Constantine the Great began to favour Christianity and signed the Edict of Milan legalizing

10115-661: The next generation this number increased to 7,000. From there monasticism quickly spread out first to Palestine and the Judean Desert , Syria , North Africa and eventually the rest of the Roman Empire . Orthodox monasticism does not have religious orders as in the West, so there are no formal monastic rules; rather, each monk and nun is encouraged to read all of the Holy Fathers and emulate their virtues. There

10234-468: The ninth century, another earthquake damaged the dome of the Anastasis. The damage was repaired in 810 by Patriarch Thomas I . In 841, the church suffered a fire. In 935, the Christians prevented the construction of a Muslim mosque adjacent to the Church. In 938, a new fire damaged the inside of the basilica and came close to the rotunda. In 966, due to a defeat of Muslim armies in the region of Syria,

10353-553: The official state religion , specifically the faith established by the Council of Nicaea in 325: Theodosius called the Council of Constantinople in 381 to further refine the definition of orthodoxy. In 391 Theodosius closed all of the pagan (non-Christian and non-Jewish) temples and formally forbade pagan worship. These adhering state churches can be seen as effectively a department of the Roman state. All other Christian sects were explicitly declared heretical and illegal. In 385, came

10472-567: The original rock or taking small pieces as souvenirs. A marble slab was placed over the limestone burial bed where Jesus's body is believed to have lain. After the renovation of 1555, control of the church oscillated between the Franciscans and the Orthodox, depending on which community could obtain a favourable firman from the " Sublime Porte " at a particular time, often through outright bribery. Violent clashes were not uncommon. There

10591-474: The parvis are a few smaller structures. South of the parvis, opposite the church: On the eastern side of the parvis, south to north: North of the parvis, in front of the church façade or against it: A group of three chapels borders the parvis on its west side. They originally formed the baptistery complex of the Constantinian church. The southernmost chapel was the vestibule, the middle chapel

10710-412: The passion, such as the location of the prison of Christ and his flagellation, and presumably were so placed because of the difficulties of free movement among shrines in the city streets. The dedication of these chapels indicates the importance of the pilgrims' devotion to the suffering of Christ. They have been described as "a sort of Via Dolorosa in miniature" since little or no rebuilding took place on

10829-404: The personal holiness of its members". A church, on the other hand, is an organization where sanctity is found in the institution rather than the individual. To become a church, "Christianity had to overcome its alienation from the 'world' and successfully weather persecution, accept that it was no longer an ecclesia pura , (a sect of the holy and the elect), but was instead a corpus permixtum ,

10948-407: The position of the Christian emperor in the Church. These emperors considered themselves responsible to God for the spiritual health of their subjects, and thus they had a duty to maintain orthodoxy. The emperor did not decide doctrine – that was the responsibility of the bishops – rather his role was to enforce doctrine, root out heresy, and uphold ecclesiastical unity. The emperor ensured that God

11067-465: The practice of the Christian religion under his rule. From 313 to 380, Christianity enjoyed the status of being a legal religion within the Roman Empire. It had not become the sole authorized state religion, although it gradually gained prominence and stature within Roman society. After halting the persecutions of the Christians, Galerius reigned for another 2 years. He was then succeeded by an emperor with distinctively pro Christian leanings, Constantine

11186-583: The pure' typically find themselves compelled – either by conviction or coercion – to withdraw and establish their own counter-church, consisting of the 'gathered remnant' of God's elect". According to Bryant, this describes all the schisms of Christianity's first 300 years including the Montanists , the schism created by Hippolytus in 218 under Callistus , the Melitian schism, and the Donatists . It

11305-602: The rapid growth, Christians accounted for 56.5% of the Roman population by 350. Christians had already organized to the point of establishing hierarchies of bishops . In 301 the Kingdom of Armenia became the first nation to adopt Christianity , followed by the Georgians in 324 and the Romans in 380. In April 311, Galerius , who had previously been one of the leading figures in the persecutions, issued an edict permitting

11424-557: The rebuilding and redecoration of the church. The rebuilding was finally completed during the tenures of Emperor Constantine IX Monomachos and Patriarch Nicephorus of Jerusalem in 1048. As a concession, the mosque in Constantinople was reopened and the khutba sermons were to be pronounced in az-Zahir's name. Muslim sources say a by-product of the agreement was the renunciation of Islam by many Christians who had been forced to convert under al-Hakim's persecutions. In addition,

11543-482: The religion. The Bishop of Jerusalem Macarius asked Constantine for permission to dig for the tomb. With the help of Eusebius (a Bishop of Caesarea) and Macarius, three crosses were found near a tomb; one, which was said to have cured people of death , was presumed to be the True Cross , on which Jesus was crucified , leading the Romans to believe that they had found Calvary . About 326, Constantine ordered that

11662-636: The same twenty-seven New Testament books as found in the Canon of Trent . The first council that accepted the present canon of the New Testament may have been the Synod of Hippo Regius in North Africa in 393; the acts of this council, however, are lost. A brief summary of the acts was read at and accepted by the Council of Carthage (397) and Council of Carthage (419) . After legalisation in 313,

11781-585: The site closed to the public due to the COVID-19 pandemic . According to the keeper of the keys, it was the first such closure since 1349, during the Black Death . Clerics continued regular prayers inside the building, and it reopened to visitors two months later, on 24 May. During church renovations in 2022, a stone slab covered in modern graffiti was moved from a wall, revealing Cosmatesque -style decoration on one face. According to an IAA archaeologist,

11900-674: The site of the great basilica. Western pilgrims to Jerusalem during the 11th century found much of the sacred site in ruins. Control of Jerusalem, and thereby the Church of the Holy Sepulchre, continued to change hands several times between the Fatimids and the Seljuk Turks (loyal to the Abbasid caliph in Baghdad ) until the Crusaders' arrival in 1099. Many historians maintain that the main concern of Pope Urban II , when calling for

12019-450: The state religion because of the position's authority and ties within the administration. This ended state official practices but not the private religious practices, and consequently the temples remained open. There was not a total unity of Christianity however, and Constantius II was an Arian who kept Arian bishops at his court and installed them in various sees, expelling the orthodox bishops. Constantius's successor, Julian , known in

12138-563: The sultan solidified the existing territorial division among the communities and solidified the Status Quo for arrangements to "remain in their present state", requiring consensus to make even minor changes. The dome was restored by Catholics, Greeks, and Turks in 1868, being made of iron ever since. By the time of the British Mandate for Palestine following the end of World War I , the cladding of red limestone applied to

12257-414: The temple to Jupiter or Venus be replaced by a church. After the temple was torn down and its ruins removed, the soil was removed from the cave, revealing a rock-cut tomb that Macarius identified as the burial site of Jesus. A shrine was built on the site of the tomb Macarius had identified as that of Jesus, enclosing the rock tomb walls within its own. The Church of the Holy Sepulchre, planned by

12376-401: The time of Constantine, Christianity had already changed from its first century instantiation as a "marginal, persecuted, and popularly despised Christian sect" to become the fully institutionalized church "capable of embracing the entire Roman empire" that Constantine adopted. Without this transformation that Peter Brown has called " the conversion of Christianity " to the culture and ideals of

12495-454: The title "king" during his lifetime, and declared himself Advocatus Sancti Sepulchri ('Protector [or Defender] of the Holy Sepulchre'). According to the German priest and pilgrim Ludolf von Sudheim , the keys of the Chapel of the Holy Sepulchre were in hands of the "ancient Georgians ", and the food, alms, candles and oil for lamps were given to them by the pilgrims at the south door of

12614-441: The years 1348 through 1575, as contemporary Franciscan accounts indicate. The Franciscan friars renovated the church in 1555, as it had been neglected despite increased numbers of pilgrims. The Franciscans rebuilt the Aedicule , extending the structure to create an antechamber. A marble shrine commissioned by Friar Boniface of Ragusa was placed to envelop the remains of Christ's tomb, probably to prevent pilgrims from touching

12733-573: Was accepted as ecumenical in the West. The Church Fathers, Early Church Fathers, or Fathers of the Church are the early and influential theologians and writers in the Christian Church , particularly those of the first five centuries of Christian history. The term is used of writers and teachers of the Church, not necessarily saints . Teachers particularly are also known as doctors of the Church , although Athanasius called them men of little intellect . Late Antique Christianity produced

12852-445: Was an Incarnation of God that had taken human form. The most persistent debate was that between the homoousian view (the Father and the Son are one and the same, eternal) and the Arian view (the Father and the Son are separate, but both divine). This controversy led to Constantine's calling a council meeting at Nicaea in 325. Christological debates raged throughout the 4th century with emperors becoming ever more involved with

12971-499: Was built. The church and rotunda was built under Constantine in the 4th century and destroyed by al-Hakim in 1009. Al-Hakim's son allowed Emperor Constantine IX Monomachos to reconstruct the church, which was completed in 1048. After it was captured by the Crusaders in 1099, it continued to undergo modifications, resulting in a significant departure from the original structure. Several renovations and restorations were made under

13090-490: Was called to become Bishop of Tours in 372, where he established a monastery at Marmoutiers on the opposite bank of the Loire River , a few miles upstream from the city. His monastery was laid out as a colony of hermits rather than as a single integrated community. John Cassian began his monastic career at a monastery in Palestine and Egypt around 385 to study monastic practice there. In Egypt he had been attracted to

13209-413: Was concentrated on the rotunda and its surrounding buildings: the great basilica remained in ruins." The rebuilt church site consisted of "a court open to the sky, with five small chapels attached to it." The chapels were east of the court of resurrection (when reconstructed, the location of the tomb was under open sky), where the western wall of the great basilica had been. They commemorated scenes from

13328-417: Was expressed in the description of Lérins by Rutilius Namatianus , who served as prefect of Rome in 414: Lérins became, in time, a center of monastic culture and learning, and many later monks and bishops would pass through Lérins in the early stages of their career. Honoratus was called to be Bishop of Arles and was succeeded in that post by another monk from Lérins. Lérins was aristocratic in character, as

13447-419: Was historically significant because it was the first effort to attain consensus in the church through an assembly representing all of Christendom. With the creation of the Nicene Creed , a precedent was established for subsequent general councils to create a statement of belief and canons which were intended to become guidelines for doctrinal orthodoxy and a source of unity for the whole of Christendom –

13566-511: Was its founder, and was closely tied to urban bishoprics. In 331, Constantine I commissioned Eusebius to deliver fifty Christian Bibles for the Church of Constantinople . Athanasius ( Apol. Const. 4 ) recorded Alexandrian scribes around 340 preparing Bibles. Little else is known, though there is plenty of speculation. For example, it is speculated that this may have provided motivation for canon lists , and that Codex Sinaiticus and Codex Vaticanus are examples of these Bibles. Together with

13685-649: Was no agreement about this question, although it was discussed at the negotiations to the Treaty of Karlowitz in 1699. During the Holy Week of 1757, Orthodox Christians reportedly took over some of the Franciscan-controlled church. This may have been the cause of the sultan's firman (decree) later developed into the Status Quo . A fire severely damaged the structure again in 1808, causing

13804-510: Was properly worshiped in his empire; what proper worship consisted of was the responsibility of the church. Constantine had commissioned more than one investigation into the Donatist issues and they all ruled in support of the Catholic cause, yet the Donatists refused to submit to either imperial or ecclesiastical authority. For a Roman emperor, that was sufficient cause to act. Brown says Roman authorities had shown no hesitation in "taking out"

13923-552: Was taken from the Fatimids (who had recently taken it from the Abbasids) by the knights of the First Crusade on 15 July 1099. The First Crusade was envisioned as an armed pilgrimage , and no crusader could consider his journey complete unless he had prayed as a pilgrim at the Holy Sepulchre. The classical theory is that Crusader leader Godfrey of Bouillon , who became the first Latin ruler of Jerusalem , decided not to use

14042-487: Was the first ecumenical conference of bishops of the Catholic Church (Catholic as in 'universal', not just Roman) and most significantly resulted in the first declaration of a uniform Christian doctrine . The purpose of the council was to resolve disagreements in the Church of Alexandria over the nature of Jesus in relationship to the Father; in particular, whether Jesus was of the same substance as God

14161-547: Was the last emperor to rule over a united Roman Empire; following his death, the division into western and eastern halves, each under its own emperor, became permanent. By the end of the 5th century, the Western Roman Empire had been overrun by the Germanic tribes, while the Eastern Roman Empire (known also as the Byzantine Empire ) continued to thrive. Thus, the political unity of the Roman Empire

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